A Texas-style turf tour

Team Zoysia hosted the Zoysia & The Future of Golf Tour at Bladerunner Farms, located just south of San Antonio in Poteet, Texas, before tradeshow portion of the Golf Industry Show.

The focus of the tour was the scientific breakthrough in zoysiagrass breeding and research that promises to change the way golf courses are grassed. Zoysia, a sustainable family of grasses, (low water, low inputs, lower maintenance costs) has been touted in recent years for its beauty and playability on fairways and tees. But now, new varieties bred especially for golf greens are ready for use in the golf market—something virtually unheard of until now.

A presentation by Texas A&M University’s Dr. Ambika Chandra unveiled the first hybrid zoysiagrass bred for use on golf greens. This zoysia, tested as DALZ 1308 and named TamGreen, also represents a scientific breakthrough in its standing as the first hybrid developed specifically for putting greens by crossing two different turfgrass species, zoysia minima and zoysia matrella.

Tour attendees also saw the results of decades of research on drought tolerance, shade tolerance, salinity tolerance, playability and turf quality.

The tour included eight stations with presentations from Ken Mangum, CGCS, on why zoysia is suited for golf; Brad Burgess and Jim Prusa on international perspective of zoysia use; Dr. Brian Schwartz from the University of Georgia on new breeding advances; Dr. Marla Binzel debuted new research findings on the salt tolerance of zoysiagrass; David Doguet of Bladerunner Farms discussed planting zoysia from tee to green; Dr. Jack Fry of Kansas State University presented information on cold tolerance; Dr. Milt Engelke instructed on zoysia maintenance and equipment; and Chandra talked further about her zoysia breeding program at Texas A&M.

Following a tour of Bladerunner Farms, the tour moved to Oak Hill Country Club in San Antonio for a session led by architect Tripp Davis and superintendent Riley Maxey. The course was recently grassed with several varieties of zoysia. “Once it’s established the playing surface is much, much better with zoysia versus bermuda, in my opinion,” Maxey said.

Tees are Trinity Zoysia; fairways are Zeon Zoysia; and roughs are grassed witht JaMur Zoysia with Cutlass Zoysia accents. Maxey said he’s noticed his zoysia turf requires less fertilizer, less maintenance and recovers faster from drought conditions than other grasses.

“From a maintenance standpoint we’ve seen a lot of ability to maintain more consistent conditions with less inputs, whether that’s labor, fertility, water. It’s just a little bit easier on zoysia grass to have the same conditions day in and day out,” Maxey said. “If you’re going to spend that amount of money to truly be happy with your product, that zoysiagrass is definitely the way to go.”

Heard during the tour …

David DoguetPresident of Bladerunner Farms “Our goal is to give you grasses that are much cheaper to manage.”

Dr. Milt EngelkeProfessor Emeritus at Texas A&M University “We can bring the cost of maintenance down without sacrificing quality with zoysiagrass.”Dr. Marla BinzelFormer turfgrass scientist at Texas A&M, current owner of Ziatec, an independent research lab “The big deal with the salinity with zoysia is twofold. One, is that inherent with this grass is how it deals with the salt is it takes it up and excretes the salt. If you mow and collect your clippings, you have a way to remove salt from your site. The other big factor is because of the way that it handles salt, compared to paspalum you don’t have as much excessive growth. Paspalum grows extra volume to deal with salt, that volume is expensive in terms of water and nitrogen. Zoysia doesn’t put on all that extra growth, so you’re not using so much extra water and nitrogen.”

Ken Mangum, CGCSRetired golf course superintendent“I never lost any zoysiagrass to cold in Atlanta. Zoysia is very cold tolerant. This new grass, Prizm, is extremely cold tolerant.”

PBI-Gordon developing new herbicide

PBI-Gordon Corporation has developed a new non-phenoxy, “three-way” herbicide. Soon to be branded SwitchBlade, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency registration for the herbicide is pending.

SwitchBlade will feature three active ingredients: halauxifen-methyl, fluroxypyr, and dicamba. Testing has shown that, when combined, these active ingredients will provide professional lawn care operators, golf course superintendents, and sod and sports turf managers with extended post-emergence control of 34 broadleaf weeds—including clover, dandelion, and plantain.

The active ingredient halauxifen-methyl is from a new class of systemic auxin herbicides, called Arylpicolinates. Rapidly absorbed by leaves and to a lesser extent the roots of sensitive plants, it mimics the plant growth hormones and disrupts the weed’s growth process.

Other features of SwitchBlade include:

--Will be able to be applied year-round when weeds are actively growing, but will be ideal for spring or fall applications in cooler conditions

--Is being proposed for use on bahiagrass, Bermudagrass, bentgrass, centipedegrass, Kentucky bluegrass, perennial ryegrass, tall fescue, St. Augustinegrass, and zoysiagrass

ASB taskTracker & FAIRWAYiQ announcing partnership at GIS

ASB taskTracker and FAIRWAYiQ, have formed a partnership to integrate their turf maintenance solutions.

ASB's taskTracker is a go-to solution for superintendents across the United States and internationally. The task tracking tool enables superintendents to efficiently manage labor and budgets via the ASB software platform. ASB currently serves over 550 clubs and has gained over 700,000 hours of labor efficiency in the last three years.

FAIRWAYiQ's innovation in equipment monitoring, provides real-time visibility of equipment and staff for superintendents. The equipment monitoring technology is built on the latest network protocol (LPWAN), allowing low power equipment sensors, to transfer data over long distances in real rime. FAIRWAYiQ currently serves clubs across the United States and Canada.

Integrating the two systems will enable superintendents to plan and assign tasks, monitor those tasks in real time, and drive efficiency through comprehensive analytics and reporting.

ASB & FAIRWAYiQ are formally announcing their partnership at the Golf Industry Show in San Antonio. A demo of the integrated system will be shared at GIS on Wednesday, Feb. 7. More information will also be shared at FAIRWAYiQ's booth #19058 and at the ASB's booth #28104.

Nufarm receives EPA registration for Traction

Nufarm Americas announced it has been granted federal EPA registration for Traction fungicide based on the novel combination of FRAC 29 and FRAC 3 active ingredients, Fluazinam and Tebuconazole. Traction fungicide will provide a new management tool for disease control and resistance management in cool- and warm-season golf course turf.

Traction fungicide’s unique dual actives work on-contact and systemically within the plant to provide effective broad-spectrum control of 19 turf diseases and algal scum. It has been shown to provide strong performance against major golf course disease pressure from anthracnose, dollar spot, brown patch and snow mold across field trials in various settings.

To support convenience and value, Traction fungicide will be offered in a premix formula at a price aligned with many tank mixes. It can also be applied across all golf course settings, including fairways, tees and greens.

“The fact that Traction is an easy to use premix fungicide that can be applied in the summertime to any golf terrain means significant time savings for superintendents,” Fausey said. “We look forward to introducing and supporting Traction in the field.”

USGA updates green construction recommendations

Document provides clarity on a number of agronomic topics, as well as address new technology and methods.

The USGA announced it has revised its recommendations for putting green construction, and has included emphasis on greater communication and collaborations, the consideration of new technology and materials, and added clarity to certain agronomic verbiage.

The USGA’s basic 1960 guidelines haven’t changed much over the years, says USGA Agronomist Brad Whitlark, with the last revision issued in 2004. Whitlark addressed a crowd of superintendents Monday during an education session focused on turf solutions where he outlined many of the changes.

The USGA approached revising its putting green recommendations with four main objectives in mind:

To review new technology and how it impacts or improves green construction.

Provide education by improving the clarity and increase the awareness of the USGA’s principles and methodology.

To maintain a broad range of methodology.

Consider alternative methods by recognizing the potential benefits and pitfalls of other methods of green construction and to provide guidance for those methods.

The process involved extensive industry cooperation with the USGA reaching out to various scientists, golf course architects, superintendents and agronomists for their input. The USGA then contracted with turf consultant Dr. Norm Hummel to write the revisions.

The revisions were included in a variety of steps the USGA suggests superintendents follow for success when engaging in green construction. Some of those include:

Assemble a Team. The revision advises to bring together the various parties who will be involved in the design, construction and maintenance of the new green. In addition, at this time it’s advised to look at the putting green cavity and subgrade, as well as re-examine the green drainage including the addition of clean out ports and a perimeter drain that extends into low-lying areas.

Gravel & Intermediate Layer. Wicking barriers are now optional. It advises to no longer use sulfate soundness test or LA abrasion test, instead conduct a “micro-deval test” for material stability. In addition, the USGA acknowledges iron oxide layers may form when using an acidic root zone over neutral or alkaline gravel.

Root Zone Mix. The revision includes a better explanation of root zone materials and provides better guidance on choosing root zone mixtures for site conditions. It addresses the use of organic matter and provides a warning about material variability. It expands and enhances the discussion on water and nutrient retention with an emphasis on moisture retention while retaining air porosity. It also expands the discussion on the do’s and don’ts of root zone blending.

Top Covering, Placement, and Smoothing. Mentions power tamping as a method to firm the perimeter of greens to minimize settling.